“At the limit, we are producing highly qualified people who, after a short time, will leave the Armed Forces,” stated Admiral Nobre de Sousa, Chief of the Naval Staff, during a National Defense conference organized by Diário de Notícias. He highlighted the urgent need to “improve conditions for personnel retention.”
Admiral Nobre de Sousa pointed out that the Armed Forces’ personnel hold “differentiated degrees” of experience and “leadership skills,” which make them “particularly attractive to the labor market in civil society.”
Meanwhile, General Cartaxo Alves, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, noted that the Air Force “has never had recruitment issues,” due to a “broad pool” of applicants, from which only “minimal percentages of this large number are recruited.”
“Our problem is retaining people,” he added.
According to the senior officials, “the Navy has lost 22% of its workforce over the last 10 years,” while the Air Force witnessed 280 permanent members exit in 2024.
In the same discussion panel, the Chief of Staff of the Army mentioned that the branch he leads “strongly invests in the qualification of its personnel,” but stressed the need to “correct some discrepancies,” particularly in terms of salaries, social support, and infrastructure, so that military personnel “feel valued.”
Admiral Nobre de Sousa also raised concerns about the reduction of pensions for military personnel serving in the Armed Forces, describing it as a problem that “puts people in a dilemma” between rising through the military ranks or “transitioning to the civilian labor market.”
He noted that, for those who joined until 1989, the pension would be 90% of their last salary, but for those who entered between 1993 and 2005, it will range from 51% to 70%, and for those who joined after 2006, it drops to between 48% and 68%.
“I understand the needs the country had at a certain time, especially during the ‘troika’ period, to take a set of measures (…), applying uniform measures to a body that is not uniform by nature. Military personnel do not have the same obligations as other national servants, and therefore, things should have been considered differently,” he added.
General Cartaxo Alves echoed the concerns of Nobre de Sousa, stating that pension conditions are a major factor contributing to leaving the Air Force, as it cannot compete with the conditions offered by the civilian labor market.
“Just look at the military pay scale, see how much they earn (…), do the math on 45% to 60% of that salary. Will a 60-year-old have a decent pension? No, they will. They will have a destitute pension. (…) These young people do not want, after 20 years of service to the country, to continue only to receive such a pension at the end of their careers, so they leave. They leave because the offers are, obviously, irrefutable,” he remarked.
For the Chief of the Air Force, this situation is “common to all three branches” of the Armed Forces and represents pressure from the job market that “has not eased.”
